Yeah and I'm very overwhelmed with my personal life. I'm doing internships, finishing my college thesis, just started seeing a new guy and my driving lessons begin next week.
An Imperial Match: Anne Boleyn marries Charles V
- Thread starter pandizzy
- Start date
Wish you all the best on those endeavors and i really hope that guy enjoys beign an your leash.
27th of February, 1551.
Tyrol, Austria. 27th of February, 1551.
Felipe stood beside his father as the two brothers looked at each other, sitting one on each end of a long oak table. Both dressed to their finest, hair brushed and beards trimmed, looking at the other with disdain and distrust. The tension was thick, so thick that Felipe imagined it could be easily cut with a knife and he desired greatly to have that knife in his hand as he looked at Maximilian. The man who abandoned his pregnant wife, no matter what Juanita tried to say in the months leading to her confinement. The man who ran back to his father when it seemed he would lose the imperial crown. The man who…
“I’ve reached a decision,” his father said, breaking the careful silence that permeated around them. Ferdinand of Austria settled in his chair, Maximilian standing behind him. “The imperial crown is the jewel of Christendom. All that we have from the Old Romans, so crudely taken from us after the fall of Constantinople.” He wrung his hands together. “Our grandfather gave it to me upon his death and only the stabilising line of succession can keep it in our family. I’m the oldest son and Felipe is my firstborn child. It only makes sense that I have him installed as my heir.”
Maximilian, hot-blooded as always, leaned forward to speak but his father raised his hand, stopping him. Felipe watched as his uncle took a deep breath, looking briefly at him before his blue eyes returned to his father. “To be Emperor you must hold land within the Empire,” he declared simply.
“Austria will be given to Felipe upon my passing,” the Emperor responded, not surprised by his brother’s rebuttal. “Hungary and Bohemia will be inherited by Maximilian, but since I’m still the nominal Archduke of Austria, I’m entitled to see it inherited by my son.”
“Your son doesn’t know the German princes,” Ferdinand responded. “He doesn’t know the laws, the culture.” He looked at Felipe, his tongue wrapping around the French words that he used. “He doesn’t even know the language.”
“He will learn, as you did,” Charles said. “I trust you to teach it to him.”
“So you will deny me the crown that you promised me twenty years ago, but my reward for decades of loyal work is to be named your son’s tutor?” Ferdinand sneered. Maximilian whispered something to him in German, a harsh clanging tongue that Felipe couldn’t begin to understand, and his eyebrow twitched.
Felipe saw his father’s eyes flash. “Careful, boy,” said the Emperor. “I understand your language just fine and your accusations hold no merit here.”
“Maximilian speaks what he feels,” Ferdinand said, quick to defend his son. “He is as offended as I am.”
“Offended?” Charles asked, arching a silver eyebrow.
“Yes.” Ferdinand nodded. “I’ll not accept this. I’m the King of the Romans, not your boy’s advisor.”
“King of the Romans is only a title,” said Charles. “Perhaps, you would be allowed to keep it if your son didn’t dally with heretics and enemies of the realm.”
“They are only enemies of the realm because you refused to treat with them,” Ferdinand said. “I warned you many times that the Lutherans were a permanent fixture in Europe and you ignored me.” He tilted his chin up, pronounced as so many jaws in their family were. “Now, they are at war with us and your actions have caused it all.”
“Be careful with your words, brother,” Charles warned. “I’ll not admit to be offended.”
“You’ve been too long away from the Empire, too concerned with the affairs of Spain and Portugal,” Ferdinand replied. “You haven’t seen the people, how they fell towards Lutheranism in defiance of Rome. They abhor an absentee leader, some faraway voice demanding they obey and submit. They saw the Pope for an Italian fool who could be replaced whenever they die from their decadence and declared their sovereign faith. You truly thought they would never turn that sentiment towards you? I adapted to these lands, raised my children in them, intermarried with their ruling families. You expect to oust me for a boy who’ll be held in the grasp of Spanish cortes as long as he lives? You expect them to accept him over me? Over Maximilian, son of a King and Queen born from royal houses?”
Felipe held his breath as he looked at his uncle, never expecting to see such words. He knew there were many who thought him less than he was, many who hesitated to marry their sons to his daughters because of his mother, but he thought his family would be different than Caterina de' Medici. Hesitating over Luisa’s betrothal and asking so many questions about Anne Boleyn’s ancestry.
“What are you saying?” Charles said, his chin tense.
“The woman you married and made your empress was the daughter of a knight,” Ferdinand murmured. “She was nothing until you made her into something. Nothing to the electors and princes and dukes of the Empire. They never met her, never knew her, not like your precious subjects in Castile and Aragon. How could they hold her son in any regard? Anna is one of their own, a true Empress despite not wearing the title. She honoured their wives and daughters with her favour, she arranged marriages for German maids and oversaw their education. She is more beloved than that English woman could’ve ever been.”
Felipe could not hold himself back from saying, “My, uncle.” He looked at Maximilian. “Are those the feelings you have for the woman you share grandchildren with?”
“They are the truth,” Ferdinand replied. “I speak plainly because I’ve earned that right. Juana is my blood, she has her father’s heritage raising her in my eyes, even if her mother’s low birth is a blot on the title she holds.”
“George Boleyn was equally inferior to us, brother,” Charles said, “And yet you counted him as one of your closest friends. And his son is accepted by all as Duke of Württemberg.”
Ferdinand’s face turned redder as his lips curled into a snarl. “You cannot speak of that which you will never understand, brother. Don’t talk about him. You saddled the Duke onto me and gave him a considerable title in the Empire. I swallowed my pride and made peace with him as I would with any other Duke. I befriended him. And his son is German, born of a German mother and raised in these lands, raised with its language and culture and faith.”
“Be reasonable, Ferdinand,” said Charles. “Do you really think I’d accept a heretic in our grandfather’s throne?”
“I’m not a heretic,” Maximilian responded, though his father raised his hand to keep him from talking.
“As we discuss, the Turks prepare for an offensive battle against my men in Hungary,” said the King of Hungary. “What little I have conquered in the past years can be easily taken back by Sultan Mustafa and only unity between the Christian princes will keep the Infidel at bay. I would gladly shake the hand of every Lutheran in the empire and call them ‘brother’ before giving a single solitary inch to those damned Turks. The fact that you don’t see practicality astounds me, brother. I seek to preserve these lands and you chastise me for it.”
“That is my decision,” Charles replied. “Felipe is my heir, so help me God.”
“Truly,” said Ferdinand, “But the Empire is an electoral throne. My son has won the Saxons to our side and when this war is over, we will see who they choose to inherit your crown, brother.”
Ferdinand stood up, dragging his chair back.
“I will not stay here and suffer insults.” He looked at his son. “When the Archduchess is recovered, she and her child will lead the way back to Vienna.”
Maximilian wavered in following his father, turning to Charles and looking his uncle up and down. “I would have sworn on the Bible that I am a true Catholic, if you had only asked it of me as a son and not as a subject,” he said. “I hold no secrets with regards to my faith, for I kneel to God and his Bishop in Rome, I only see the heretics as good men who worship the same God I do, in their own way.” He looked at Felipe for a brief moment before turning back to his uncle. “Perhaps if you had started to see us as family, instead of vassals, this whole thing would’ve been for naught.”
He turned around and Felipe couldn’t help himself. “Your father meant children,” he corrected gently and Maximilian turned to him with a frown. “Juanita had twins. Both boys. And identical, as far as we know. She named them Matyas and Lajos.”
Maximilian smiled, even though Felipe had intended for his words to hurt. “Good,” he said. “Then she is loyal to her husband and his father, both of whom love her greatly. I’ll see her now.” He turned around and walked out again.
Well, if Charles follows through with his plans, then he Habsburg family will deffo be shattered beyond repair. Can he retake Austria? I thought he had given it to Ferdinand long ago and not just with Ferdinand as a stadtholder there
That's ironic since the Medicis were nothing more than upstart bankers originally
Damn, Ferdinand, that's cold. The boytoy is still a touchy subject it seems
Ferdinand was basically a regent. He wasn't legally given Austria until Charles abdicated. But Austria is much more loyal to Ferdinand who is on location than to Charles, as many others feel.
Yikes, I didn’t expect things to get quite so ugly between Charles and Ferdinand. And I’m really not sure how Charles expects Felipe to be emperor. It’d be far easier to pass over Maximilian in favor of Ferry.
Hadn't thought about that. I still want the empire to go to Ferdinand and his line, but if Felipe gets it, at least there's a silver lining in the fact that Juan will lose it completely
I hope this finally happens because the separate Habsburgs are somewhat screwed in the long term, also if Philip inherits the empire it would only bring problems to him and Spain.
Last edited:
Me too Max deserves it. And felipe needs to focus on Spain it's own empire and Juan needs to grow up.
While Felipe getting the Empire would be complicated, I can really see why Charles won't trust Maximilian, his nephew and son-in-law wouldn't obey him, even though he should, so why should Charles want to leave the Empire to him, whose loyalty is in doubt?
Joana is gonna have a fit at her husband becoming heir to the empire. She's gonna knock some sense into his head, if Felipe isn't already there.
Very true, and hopefully joana didnt make a scene about fernando and his lover. The man is just like his namesake!